CEC says money, muscle power major hindrance to free, fair polls

New Delhi, Nov 2 : Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami on Sunday said that muscle and money power has become a hindrance to free and fair election in the country.

The CEC was speaking at a function organised by International Goodwill Society of India in New Delhi.

With security during the upcoming assembly polls to six states becoming a major worry, Gopalaswami said, "Today muscle and money power are a big concern for free and fair elections. To deal with the muscle, we have to deploy more police and security forces, so that voters can use their (right to) franchise in peaceful manner."

Gopalaswami, while recalling Uttar Pradesh assembly polls last year, said the election commission had to mobilise a whopping 4.55 lakh security personnel to ensure peaceful and fair polls.

However, he was not happy about holding elections under excessive security arrangements as he said that conducting an election at gun point does not really give credit to our democracy.